Stocks Sink on Japan Crisis, Weak Economic Reports

[Cali_Democrat]

Uh Oh....

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Stocks-fall-on-Japan-crisis-apf-400288027.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=

Stocks fall on Japan crisis, weak economic reports
Japan's nuclear crisis, disappointing economic reports cause stocks to fall

NEW YORK (AP) --

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 265, or 2.3 percent, to 11,590. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 29, or 2.3 percent, to 1,253. All 10 company groups in the S&P 500 fell. The index has dropped 3.5 percent this week and has now given up all its gains for the year.

<snip>

The Commerce Department reported that new home construction fell to the second-lowest level on record in February, reflecting weak demand. Homebuilders Lennar Corp. and D.R. Horton Inc. each fell more than 2 percent.

Wholesale prices rose last month by the most in nearly two years due to higher energy costs and the biggest increase in food prices in 36 years. Shares of companies affected by higher food costs fell. McDonald's Corp. and Starbucks Corp. both fell 2 percent.

Read more...http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Stocks-fall-on-Japan-crisis-apf-400288027.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[ProSense]

2. The housing

market still hasn't recovered. There is still a lot of excess inventory.

Reuters:

Groundbreaking on new construction dropped 22.5 percent last month to an annual rate of 479,000 units, according to Commerce Department data released on Wednesday. This was just above a record low set in April 2009 and way below the estimates of economists, who had been looking for a smaller drop to 570,000.

January's figure was revised up to 618,000 units from 596,000. But that did not change the tenor of the report, which confirmed that the sector is failing to recover despite interest rates near record lows.

Building permits, a hint of future construction demand, fell to a record low of 517,000 units from a revised 563,000, and were down by about 20 percent from levels seen in February 2010.

Housing was at the epicenter of the financial crisis of 2007-2009.

One key impediment to the sector's recovery is a vast backlog of unsold inventory, while a shaky job market has also made consumers reluctant to embark on any major new financial commitments. Making matters worse, a glut of foreclosures, stalled in recent months by revelations of improper loan documentation, is depressing the market.

Via Calculated Risk:

[Cali_Democrat]

3. Poor Ben Bernanke

His attempt to re-inflate the housing bubble with easy money and zero interest rates has been a complete failure. The housing market was always WAY overpriced and his attempt to restore levels seen before 2008 is laughable.

Ben Bernanke is all about money printing and fake wealth creation. They don't call him Bubble Ben Bernanke for nothing.

[ProSense]

4. What?

"Ben Bernanke is all about money printing and fake wealth creation."

Yeah, the RW is attacking the Fed's policy.

[Cali_Democrat]

5. So I should support the Fed policy because right wingers are attacking it?

Nah. Many of the attacks on the Fed's money printing polices are legitimate.

Bernanke's obsession with bubbles and money printing should be questioned.